Vibe coding is a term popularized by Andrej Karpathy in early 2025 to describe an exciting new style of AI-assisted programming: you describe what you want to an LLM, iterate rapidly based on results, and build things faster than ever before.

The key principle? Focus on the "what," let AI handle the "how."

What makes vibe coding special

Vibe coding represents a fundamental shift in how we think about software development:

• Speed over perfection — ship working prototypes in minutes, not days
• Ideas over implementation — describe what you want, not how to build it
• Iteration over planning — see it running, then refine
• Results over syntax — if it works, you're done
• Conversation over code — natural language is your programming interface

It's coding at the speed of thought. You have an idea, you describe it, and moments later you're interacting with a working prototype.

Why vibe coding is exciting

1. Democratizes software creation

You don't need years of programming experience to build functional apps. If you can describe what you want, you can build it. This opens up software creation to designers, product managers, entrepreneurs, and anyone with ideas.

2. Removes the boring parts

No more wrestling with boilerplate, dependency management, or syntax errors. The AI handles the tedious setup so you can focus on the creative and interesting parts of your project.

3. Enables rapid experimentation

Want to try three different approaches to a feature? With vibe coding, you can explore all three in the time it would take to carefully implement one. This leads to better final products because you can actually test your hypotheses.

4. Perfect for prototyping

Building a proof-of-concept to validate an idea? Vibe coding gets you from concept to demo faster than any other approach.

Tools like Cursor, Replit Agent, Bolt, and AiSpecify make this feel magical — you chat with the AI, and suddenly you have a working app.

5. Lowers the barrier to learning

Want to learn a new framework or language? Vibe code your way through building something real. You'll learn by doing, and the AI handles the syntax you don't know yet.

Real-world use cases

Weekend projects that actually ship — How many side project ideas have you had that never got built because the initial setup was too tedious? Vibe coding eliminates that friction. You can go from idea to deployed app in a weekend.

Design exploration — Designers can now prototype interactive experiences without waiting for engineering resources. Try different interaction patterns, see them working, and iterate until it feels right.

Business automation — Small business owners are using vibe coding to build custom tools without hiring developers. Inventory systems, booking apps, data dashboards — if you can describe it, you can build it.

Educational projects — Teachers and students are using vibe coding to build educational games and simulations. The focus stays on the learning objectives, not debugging syntax.

Best practices for vibe coding

While vibe coding is fast and fun, you can make it even more effective:

1. Start with clear goals — know what success looks like before you start
2. Test as you go — try each feature immediately to catch issues early
3. Keep scope small — build one thing at a time, ship it, then expand
4. Document your prompts — save the conversations that led to working code
5. Know when to dive deeper — if something keeps breaking, it might be time to understand the implementation

When to be thoughtful

The future of vibe coding

The tooling is evolving rapidly. Salesforce launched "Agentforce Vibes" in late 2025, bringing vibe coding to enterprise environments. AI coding agents are getting better at understanding context, maintaining consistency, and even suggesting architectural improvements.

We're moving toward a future where the barrier between "I have an idea" and "I have a working prototype" essentially disappears. This is exciting because it means more ideas get tested, more problems get solved, and more people get to participate in building software.

Getting started

Ready to try vibe coding? Here's how:

1. Pick a simple project — a to-do app, a calculator, a game
2. Choose your tool
3. Describe what you want — use plain English
4. Iterate — see it running, then refine
5. Ship it — when it works, you're done

The best way to understand vibe coding is to experience it. Try the simulator above, or spend an hour building something real.

Final thoughts

Vibe coding represents a shift in how we think about programming — from detailed instruction to high-level direction, from syntax to semantics, from implementation to intention. It's not replacing traditional development; it's expanding who can build and how quickly they can move.